Saturday, 15 September 2012

A Clockwork Baby

Zachary is now 8 weeks old and we've been attempting to help him along with a daily routine, in the hope that perhaps very soon we may get enough sleep at night to avoid constantly yawning throughout the day. Swith has taken up earplugs to help him through the night and has been sleeping like a baby ever since (what a terrible idiom!). 

Over the last week, Zachary has established the following routine. Please excuse the use of the third person; it is starting to become the norm in our household!

AM

Firstly, Zachary is usually awake by 7am and after an early morning feed, Daddy changes his (usually very dirty) nappy and gets him dressed for a new day. He (Zachary, not Daddy) happily lies on his play mat for a little while, allowing Mummy time to get up and dressed, although he usually demands another feed just as she sits down to eat some breakfast. Then Zachary has a bit of a cry and takes a while to settle before having a short morning nap - I can never understand crying due to tiredness - why not just go to sleep and solve the problem? 

Zachary enjoying his play mat
PM

Zachary is already well timed - he gets hungry at lunchtime, usually just as Mummy sits down to eat; for a peaceful lunch, Zachary always eats first. Then comes his afternoon nap which is a little longer than the morning one, giving us the chance to perhaps go out shopping without making a scene.

After dinner, Zachary begins to wind down and at around 7pm, we commence his bedtime routine.  This can take anything from half an hour to two hours! In the dimly lit bedroom to get him in the mood for sleeping, Zachary has a warm bath (at exactly 37C). He isn't the biggest fan of baths, in fact, as you gently lower him into the water he gives you a look as if to ask: 'Why are you trying to kill me?'.
Zachary on a good day
After much distress, Zachary finally calms down enough to have a good feed before drifting off to sleep, at which point Mummy waits a few minutes before putting him to bed in his Moses basket. Then on comes the baby monitor and Mummy and Daddy listen patiently to see whether Zachary really is asleep - sometimes it's hard to tell, as he seems to have vivid dreams and chatter away in his sleep.

His nights have dramatically improved - he'll usually stay asleep until 11pm or even midnight, then wake every 2-3 hours for feeds through the night. That sounds bad, but it was much, much worse a few weeks ago, so we're grateful and are hoping it will continue.

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